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At last the chagim are over, and a return to some sort of routine was possible. So, what better way to celebrate than restarting the regular games sessions? Newcomer Avri joined Azriel, Peleg, Rosalynn, Sheer, and me for some across the board action.

At the faraway end, Avri, Peleg and Sheer played a thrilling game of Automobiles. (At least, it sounded thrilling.) I believe Sheer won, though there were a couple of great runes celebrated by the others in the run up to the finishing line.

Then the terrific trio switched to R-Eco, with Sheer and Avri fighting it out to their mutual destruction, leaving Peleg to survive for the win. He’s a mean recycler is our Peleg!

At my end, Azriel, Rosalynn, and I played Dominion: Prosperity. Azriel won that by a single point. His combination was not that efficient, but did allow him run through his deck virtually every turn, with more than enough money to keep buying victory points. Rosalynn and I seemed to get caught with dud hands jammed up by these same victory point cards, but sadly not enough of them.

Then the same three did a quick game of Splendor. Just as I was about to get my ducks in order (or cards in this case) Rosalynn claimed the win.

They retired, and I joined Avril, Peleg, and Sheer for a closing game of Reibach & Co. The lead went from player to player in the three scoring rounds, but I lucked out the best and managed a win by a couple of points. Luck, of course, played its part. The others refused to agree with me that it was the ultimate game of skill. Spoilsports!

Last week’s session was a five person spot of prosperity gaming: Azriel and Rosalynn brought Dominion: Prosperity, and – along with Peleg and Sheer – we played two games of this fine Dominion expansion. The expansion is, as you would expect from the title, one that focuses on money, wealth, and the generation of those key assets. It’s a shame this expansion is out of print, as it was fun to play, and merits further attention.

As for the two games, I won the first – using the recommended “Beginner” mix of cards – and Sheer won the second – using a more interactive recommended set. One potential downside of Prosperity is that there are a few attack cards, but bugger all I could see that would work as an effective defense. Perhaps the Watchtower card – which allows you to draw till your hand is at six cards – is the best tool in the box for defense.

Afterwards, we moved on to Reibach and Co, which all of us had played before except for Azriel. I explained the rules, but must have done a bad job, as he really struggled and did not get much of a score. However, Azriel did say he wanted to play it again, so it cannot all have been bad. Sheer, Peleg, and I managed to mess up each other’s scores so well that Rosalynn skipped into first place in the last scoring round. Yeah for Rosalynn!

With the help of Peleg and Sheer, I hosted a games night for Beit Knesset Ohel Ari. I had no idea what the response would be, and while I would always prefer more people to come along and play games, those who did come appeared to have a good time. (I am open to correction, folks…)

“This is a game of survival!”

We started things rolling with The Walking Dead to get everyone into the mood. After counting up the bullets we had one survivor: Helena. A fine win to start the session.

After that we split into smaller groups.

Splendid action with Splendor

Sheer hosted Shelley and Stuart and Rosalynn. He led them through one game of Splendor (won by Rosalynn) and then Reibach and Co (won by Sheer).

This was a well fought game

Peleg hosted Emma, Naomi, Azriel, and Nechamia. He led his merry crew through Ticket to Ride Europe. Although Peleg won on points, we awarded the win to Naomi because it felt right. Emma picked up a prize for – I think – trying to complete the longest route in a five player game of Ticket to Ride, a tough, tough challenge.

Decisions, decisions

Meantime, I hosted Richard, Laurie, and Helena. At this table we played Alhambra. We had a bonus because Richard was able to give us some of the secret Jewish history of the real Alhambra. Absolutely fascinating. Unfortunately, I won according to the rules of the game, but I awarded the prize to Laurie.

Some happy prizewinners

That was it. Good fun (I hope) and a chance to spread the word: playing games is great!

After an enforced break, this week saw a return to a euro gaming session. I was joined by Amiram, Peleg, Sheer, Susan, and Rosalynn.

Sheer’s watch was acting up, so he was late. Until he arrived, we busied ourselves with a quick game of No Thanks (aka Geschenkt). Peleg one with a single figure score. Well done that man!

Then we split into two groups.

Peleg and Sheer had several high energy games of Netrunner. As Sheer said afterwards that the more he played it, the more he enjoyed it, this game will definitely be back for more.

Amiram, Rosalyyn, Susan, and I played a couple of games of Dominion: Adventures. There’s a lot to grasp for those who are new to the deckbuilding style of game, and especially one as supercharged as Adventures. So, the first game saw some tentative play by novices Amiram and Rosalynn. However, that all changed in the second game, with both Amiram and Rosalynn pushing very hard indeed, and coming within one card of victory. Unfortunately for them, and me, Susan excels at this game, and she was the winner in both games. Let’s hear it for Dominion champ Susan!

Rosalyyn, Sheer, Susan and I finished with a quick game of the classic Reibach and Co. Rosalynn jumped into a first round lead, and never looked back. She easily held on for the win. Way to go, Rosalynn!

After all of that, the adrenaline was flowing and I could not get to sleep, even though it was late. The buzz was terrific. I love gaming!

This week’s session started with Amiram, Sheer, Susan, and I engaged in a game of Dominion: Intrigue. (Susan generously dropped out part way through to allow John to play.) We used one of the recommended sets, but probably did not play it to its full potential, as we shied away from over using the sharp attacking cards.

Amiram built up a lot of money, but took too long to buy Victory Point cards. I was in much the same boat. John got into a bit of a rhythm and seemed to be doing well. However, Sheer was doing that little bit better, and he claimed the win. Well done, Sheer!

Sheer then repeated his success, this time around with Ticket to Ride: Europe. John, Sheer, and I all had big ticket scores, and Amiram missed out on those. He had done well on on board scoring, but had taken a couple of tickets he could not complete.

Last up was Reibach & Co. This was a return to classic fun, and after a rapid game, John was the winner. Well done, John!

David, Sheer, Rochelle, Susan, and I started with a five person session of an old classic filler game, Reibach & Co. Essentially, you are trying to collect sets. You either want a monopoly, or the biggest number of cards in a set. There are Jokers and double point cards, and a ticking clock scoring mechanism that adds to the tension. It’s fast, fun, not too serious, and has a fair chunk of luck. (You can tell I won...)

Chen had arrived to watch. Yehuda had arrived to play.

David, Rochelle, and Susan went off to play Dominion. Susan’s unbroken run of wins came to a dead halt courtesy of David, but by the end of a three game session everyone had claimed a win, and everyone looked happy.

Sheer, Yehuda and I went for the rather meaty Age of Industry, using the variant Japan board. It took a long, long, time for Yehuda to explain the rules to newcomer Sheer, but he must have paid attention as he did rather well. Very well, in fact, for a first game.

The one standout feature was that we burned up all the coal and iron assets, and so were unable to finish off the cards. We may have got something wrong, but it was not immediately obvious. Anyway, I had the most points just ahead of Sheer and Yehuda, so I think we played it fine!

Laurie made us play a stupid game about cakes. (Yes, I came last.) Ofer won with a brilliant piece (sic) of play. By me. I gave him the win with a daft move in the penultimate round, just to see what would happen. (Honest.) Not one of my favorite filler (sic) games. What’s it called, Laurie? Continue reading →